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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Mathematics Minus Fear

Mathematics Minus Fear: How to Make Math Fun and Beneficial to Your Everyday Life

by Lawrence Potter

This is the 2nd nonfiction book I've read about Math this year. Does that qualify me as a true geek? If so, I'm okay with that.

The title of this book is a little miss leading. I don't think reading it will help anyone who has a fear of math. I thought it had some interesting historical facts about math. In ancient times (I'm not just sure how ancient) the technique for working out 'long multiplications' was to create a grid called 'gelosia' , after the grills which were placed over the windows of houses where nuns or chaste women lived. Writing that made me realize that the interesting part was the connection to math but that grids over the windows indicated the home of nuns or chaste women.

There were some fun riddles and math problems sprinkled throughout the book that might prove fun for a math teacher to present to the students. 'As far as how to make math fun or beneficial to your everyday life' I don't think this book succeeded.